Guest Column: House Appropriations Bills Prove AIDS Activism Works
Recent policy successes in D.C. were the result of demonstrations like this one.
Three weeks ago, 26 AIDS activists were arrested in the Capitol Rotunda as they chanted “Congress: Housing Saves Lives! Clean Needles Work! Fight Global AIDS!” This act of civil disobedience was part of an ongoing campaign (in some ways, a 20-year campaign) to get Congress to lift the restrictive, expensive ban on federal funding for needle exchange; to provide housing for every person living with HIV/AIDS as a necessary part of treatment; and to meet our obligations to fighting global AIDS.
It appears that this campaign, including the remarkably well-organized, well-publicized action has been effective. On Friday, the House of Representatives passed two key pieces of appropriations legislation: The Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) Appropriations Bill, and the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill.
The LHHS bill that was passed removes the language banning federal funding for syringe exchange, although it contains a harmful restriction limiting the locations of syringe exchange programs that must be removed. The Transportation and HUD bill includes a $40 million increase in funding for Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), bringing the total HOPWA funding to $350 million, just short of what AIDS activists had demanded. It also includes $40 million more than what President Obama had recommended. His proposed budget flat-funded HOPWA.
These are huge wins for the AIDS movement. We should be incredibly proud of all the hard work we’ve done over the last months and years: The work is paying off. We have mobilized the increasingly large and diverse infected and affected community; we have put increasing pressure on the people with power to make changes by working tirelessly within and outside the political system; and we’ve put politicians in place who are sympathetic to our demands. Clearly, it’s working, and it’s time for big wins on AIDS policy.
On the other hand, the victory was far from perfect. The U.S. is billions of dollars away from meeting our commitment to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and Malaria. While the House’s version of the LHHS bill lifts the syringe exchange funding ban, it has placed restrictions on where syringe exchanges can take place that will make it virtually impossible to receive federal funding for an urban syringe exchange. And funding for HOPWA is still $10 million short of where it needs to be.
Jose de Marco, a member of ACT UP Philadelphia and director of Proyecto Sol, put it best when he said, “After 20 years of fighting to stop HIV infections from the lack of access to clean syringes, this is backhanded slap to add restrictions that will stop proven and effective HIV prevention.”
AIDS activists will need to continue to fight for unrestricted funding for syringe exchange and full funding for global AIDS programs and HIV/AIDS housing. The Senate still needs to pass legislation that increases funding for global AIDS and AIDS housing, and lifts the ban on funding syringe exchange—not to mention that the House and Senate need to pass good health care reform that includes HIV prevention and early treatment, as well as ending disparities in access to health care. But the successes in the House prove that when people get together and demand policy change, we can win major victories.
As MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow points out in response to the Capitol Rotunda protest, “one mystery of the first six months of the Obama administration has been solved: Turns out the left isn’t going quietly after all.”
Max October is a member of ACT UP Philadelphia whose banner was arrested while he was stuck in Philly doing technical support for the 26 arrested activists.
Posted on July 30, 2009 at 8:36 pm
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